Of all employed women in Canada, 27% work in sales and service occupations, more than 24% work in business, finance and administration occupations, and more than 16% hold occupations related to education, law and social, community and government services (2011).16

Women account for more than 9 out of 10 administrative assistants, registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses, early childhood educators and assistants, and receptionists (2011).17

The majority of minimum wage earners in Ontario are women…

It is estimated that women account for more than 57% of minimum wage workers, though they account for just over 49% of all employees (2011).18

More than 10% of female employees work for the minimum wage, in comparison to over 7% of male employees (2011).19

More than 11% of employed women over the age of 25 worked for the minimum wage from 2009 to 2011, an increase from 6% during 2003 to 2005.20

Over 68% of immigrant women aged 25 to 54 are employed, about 11 points lower than the rate for their Canadian-born counterparts (2011).22

Over 52% of Aboriginal women are employed, in comparison to more than 57% of women in Canada (2012).23

Certain groups of women are more likely to be unemployed…

Women who are very recent immigrants have one of the highest unemployment rates: more than 14% of all recent immigrant women, and just over 13% of recent immigrant women aged 25 to 54, are unemployed (2012)..24

More than 8% of all immigrant women are unemployed, in comparison to just over 6% of their Canadian counterparts (2012).25

In the 25 to 54 age group, more than 8% of immigrant women are unemployed, in comparison to over 4% of their Canadian counterparts (2012).26

More than 12% of Aboriginal women are unemployed, in comparison to over 6% of women in Canada (2012).27

Women are more likely to receive Employment Insurance (EI) benefits than their male counterparts…

For women between the ages of 25 and 39, a larger share of their income comes from EI, in comparison to their male counterparts. This is partly due to maternal benefits under the EI program.28

In the 30 to 34 age group, more than 5% of the total income for women comes from EI benefits, in comparison to just over 2% for men.29

Women aged 30 to 34 receive a median amount of $7,400 in EI benefits, in comparison to $4,300 for their male counterparts.30

There is a wage gap between the average earnings of men and women…

The gender wage gap in Ontario is 28% for full-time, full-year workers (2011), a decrease from 36% in 1987. In other words, for every dollar earned by a male worker, a female worker earns 71 cents (2011).31

On average, a woman in Ontario earns $33,600 annually, while a man earns $49,000 (2011).32

For workers with less than a grade 9 education, women’s earnings are 51% of those of men (2008).33

While the wage gap narrows for those with higher levels of education, women working full-year, full-time with a university degree earn about 30% less than equally educated men (2008).34